You Give Good Love

Starred review from September 2, 2013
Murray’s tale is a genuinely heartwarming romance starring a broken heroine in need of mending. Hope Warren, an African-Bahamian-Canadian with an M.F.A., works glumly at a Brooklyn print shop. She’s been miserable for eight years, ever since being dumped one Christmas Eve. With charming persistence, kind-hearted Irish-American Dylan Healy, owner of a greeting card company, coaxes Hope out of her shell. After she draws a doodle that he turns into a popular card, both come closer to their dreams: Hope’s is to own a beachfront house and Dylan’s is to open an art-themed daycare center. But Hope has to take care of her pressing health needs, including depression and anorexia, before she can see the true magic of the holidays and Dylan’s love. Murray (A Good Man) shows tremendous sensitivity in the handling of Hope’s illnesses, and caps the powerful story with a tear-jerker ending. Agent: Evan Marshall, Evan Marshall Literary Agency.

September 15, 2013
Hope Warren spends all day Monday through Saturday running copies at a shop in Brooklyn. Even though it's only October, she is already dreading the approaching holidays because they remind her of a bad breakup she had eight years ago on Christmas Eve. One day a greeting card designer talks to her and brings her lunch, sparking a transformation and giving her a reason to live. Dylan begins making a lot of money, thanks to Hope and her business suggestions and designs, and they start dating. She pulls herself out of anorexia and depression and opens herself up to new friends, new love, and new experiences. Murray delivers another strong contemporary interracial romance with plenty of humor, realism, and chemistry. While the romance proceeds without major conflict, Hope has plenty of her own issues and conflicts to overcome. Jane Green and Terry McMillan fans will enjoy Hope's renewal among the copy machines in this inspiring, warm, Gift of the Magiinspired holiday romance.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)